Tuesday, 23 February 2016

At school I was branded ‘unteachable’ and ‘prone to spasmodic outbursts of tiredsomeness.’ Yes, I was a bit naughty (I see, in hindsight, that setting traps for your French teacher is unacceptable and stealing out of Maths lessons to run wild in the forest is unwise) but at the heart of this wayward behaviour was another issue, one that didn’t get ‘detected’ at school and that I only found out about in my first job after university. And while I can’t pin all of my childhood misdemeanors on my dyslexia, it does explain A LOT of the problems I had with processing, organising material, concentrating in class and reading aloud.

I write letters backwards and numbers upside down, I stutter on words when I read them aloud and I struggle with even the most basic arithmetic – and out of that scrambled mess I try to write stories. I untangle settings by sketching them, I make sense of plots by drawing graphs and I go absolutely mental in notebooks as I create characters. Everything is visualized before I write. In short, I am a ferocious doodler, and I wanted to share my Top 10 Shadow Keeper Doodles with you:

Little Hollows Cove.Moll and her Tribe are living as outlaws in a secret cove down by the sea. There are hidden tunnels, diving rocks, old rowing boats and smugglers next door – all the finest ingredients for a sea adventure.

Little Hollows. The cave Moll and her Tribe are hiding in, complete with secret tunnel and alcove hammocks.

A house that must not be named(for spoiler reasons).

A room Moll, Gryff and Sid find themselves in on their journey to find the Amulet of Truth.I even drew a dog and a book on the side table – that’s how specific I have to be before I write!

Behind Devil’s Drop.Inspired by the Waitomo caves in New Zealand.

Oracle Bone script.These are the letters Moll carves into the Oracle Bones with her penknife before she throws them to find the second Amulet of Truth.

Mapping a chase scene across Inchgrundle.Involving dastardly smugglers and a very fierce storm. The photo deliberately chops off the edges as I don’t want you to see what happens there…

Mood board for the book. Witch doctors, wildcats, kelpies and lots and lots of unsolved codes.

Teaser for Book 3. I can’t take credit for this – my dear friend, Thierry, painted it. But inside this feather you’ll find some hints about the final book in the series.

PS: I couldn’t share the plot graphs with you because that would be one too many spoilers ☺

THE SHADOW KEEPER:

Moll Pecksniff and her friends are living as outlaws in a secret cave by the sea, desperate to stay hidden from the Shadowmasks. But further along the coast lies the Amulet of Truth, the only thing powerful enough to force the Shadowmasks back and contain their dark magic. So, together with Gryff, the wildcat that’s always by her side, and her best friends Alfie and Sid, Moll must sneak past smugglers, outwit mer creatures and crack secret codes to save the Old Magic. With more at stake than ever before and the dark magic rising fast, can Moll and her friends stop the Shadowmasks before it’s too late?Perfect for fans of J.K. Rowling, Philip Pullman, Michelle Paver and Eva Ibbotson.

Author Bio:

Abi Elphinstone grew up in Scotland where she spent most of her childhood building dens, hiding in tree houses and running wild across highland glens. After being coaxed out of her tree house, she studied English at Bristol University and then worked as a teacher. THE DREAMSNATCHER was her debut novel for 8-12 years and is followed by THE SHADOW KEEPER this year. When she's not writing, Abi volunteers for Beanstalk, teaches creative writing workshops in schools and travels the world looking for her next story. Her latest adventure involved living with the Kazakh Eagle Hunters in Mongolia…

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